6.

Classic Study: Baddeley (1966b) Study:

Starter: Match the definitions to the key terms. Make sure you give an example!

Capacity The maximum number of items of information that we can retain in memory.

Encoding How information is broken down and stored in a form that is understood (semantic,
iconic etc)

Duration Refers to the length of time the information we receive is held in our memory before it
is forgotten.

Aim: To find out if LTM is encoded acoustically (based on sound) or semantically (based on meaning).

Previous studies already showed that for STM, which is acoustically coded, had worse recall for acoustically
similar words compared to semantically similar words

Independent variable: This study has multiple!

(1) Acoustically similar word list or acoustically dissimilar
(2) semantically similar word list or semantically dissimilar
(3) performance before 15 minutes “forgetting” delay and performance after.

Dependent variable:
Score on a recall test of 10 words; words must be recalled in the correct order (really, this is a test of
remembering the word order, not the words themselves)

Label the following word lists appropriately:

man, cab, can, cad, cap, mad, max, mat, cat, map pit, few, cow, pen, sup, bar, day, not, rig, bun

Great, large, big, huge, broad, long, tall, fat, wide, Good, huge, hot, safe, thin, deep, strong, foul, old,
high late
Sample: Men and women from the Cambridge University subject panel (mostly students); they were
volunteers. There were _____________ altogether, a mixture of men and women. There were
______________ in each condition.

Procedure:
1. Participants were assigned to one of the four word lists

2. Participants are shown 10 words on a slideshow. With each word appearing on the board for 3
seconds

3. After seeing the words, they were given 8 random numbers to write down three times. The
participants then practised writing down the word sin order

4. Step 2-4 would be repeated four times. This is considered the “Learning Phase

5. The participants are given a 15-20 minute break doing another interference task. This task was
unexpected for the participants.

6. The participants then have to recall the word order after the 15 minute task. This final recall is also
unexpected for the participants

7. Participants have the words in front of them throughout the study. They though the words are not in
order (again, the dependent variable of this task was to put the words back together in order)
 Findings: Helpful note: Think of LTM as a
store that looks for DIFFERENCES in
meaning (Semantics)

1. Was trial 1, trial 2, trial 3, trial 4 or the

retest the test of LTM?

2. In which lists were there greater

performance differences for the retest
recall?

3. Which list was worst recalled in the initial learning?

4. Based on these performance differences, do the findings suggest that the LTM encodes information
semantically or acoustically? Why?

Conclusion: Because the participants struggled the most with the semantically similar list, it shows that
LTM is coded semantically
Evaluations are strengths or weaknesses of the study
When making evaluations, we go through three steps.
 1.Identification 2.Justification 3.Elaboration

Internal validity is high The words participants had to learn were
in this study matched based on how common the
frequency those words occur in the
(Study has many controls, english language.
findings not due to
methodological errors) This means the results couldn't be
explained by the participants being able
to recall more familiar (frequent) words.
This is a strength, as this level of
control avoids the extraneous
variable of the participants being
better able to recall words based on
familiarity, which then means the
researchers can be more sure that
the differences between the groups
is based on the semantics or
acoustics of the words, not other
factors

Counterpoint: Mundane Real life long term memories do not

realism is low in this study only consist of remembering word Therefore this may suggest the
lists that sound or mean similar things encoding in the study may not reflect
(The memory tasks in this in order. real life, and that the role of
study do not represent semantic encoding may have in
real life memory tasks Contextual cues and other factors also LTM has been exaggerated
well) impact recall of memory. Baddeley
excluded such recalls as his procedure
was highly controlled.

Population validity is low The participant were 72 people. All were The way their memory encodes may
in this study Cambridge students who student who be unique to elite students.
volunteered. Therefore the findings on how LTM
(The sample is not codes may not be applicable to the
representative of the Attending this university means they are wider population
general population) likely younger and more academic than
the overall population. Volunteering also
may mean they are confident in their
cognitive abilities, as such the way these
participants process memories may be
different.
 Outline the procedure of Baddeley (1966b) (4 marks)
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